Congratulations to Jal Shah and Mr. Rimal. May they have happy lives ahead. ************ In Nepal, donor agencies spend MILLIONS of dollars ever year doing what they call 'sensitizing' Nepali professionals about 'gender issues'. Likewise, a number of donor agencies spend hundreds of thousands of dollars every year on 'sensitizing' media professionals about various issues such as gender, conflict, peace and what have you. As a consumer of newspapers, I have NO idea how effective these donor-sponsored training programs, junkets and workshops are, though I have some good idea that many Nepali journalists live off donor funds to run their various media-related NGOs. As I -- a consumer of news -- often joke with Basanta Thapa, Himal patrika's Ritu Raj columnist,"Given the amount of foreign aid money thrown at Nepali journalists for this and that every year, why is that a majority are, well, overtrained and underskilled?" The above report, given its khattam-ness, jhoor-ness and utterly disrespectful/derogatory (from every sense) comments about Jal Shah shows that Nepali journalists still have a lot of learning to do when it comes to reporting personal/professional details of a well-known Nepali actress. Oh well. More later. oohi ashu